


The Price of Hubris

by EmeraldSands



Series: Whumptober 2020 [2]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime)
Genre: (though heavier on hurt and lighter on comfort than my usual stuff), Gen, Guilt, Hurt/Comfort, I wrote this for me but y'all can read it if you want, Whump, Whumptober 2020, filling in some blanks re: EP063, namely the very end of that terrible battle and the episode's aftermath, that was a tough day for Gary, underage whumpee
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-07
Updated: 2020-10-07
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:08:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26857990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmeraldSands/pseuds/EmeraldSands
Summary: Gary knows he’s a brilliant trainer, and now he also knows that he should’ve sized up the situation in the Viridian Gym and realized he was in over his head. (For Whumptober day 6, prompt: "stop, please.")
Series: Whumptober 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1957423
Kudos: 12
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	The Price of Hubris

**Author's Note:**

> I am always so eager to unpack what went down in EP063, because it’s painful and I'm awful, and when I realized there was a prompt I could use for that inspiration struck fast. I wrote this in the span of just a few hours and you can probably tell.
> 
> This is my second attempt at writing a fic in present tense (the first, interestingly, was also about EP063) because I thought that'd help convey the tone I was going for. Writing this was an interesting little experiment for me all around.

Arcanine and Nidoking charge toward their armored opponent, only to be stopped in their tracks by another psychic attack, suspended in midair. Two of Gary's strongest pokémon rendered completely helpless just like that.

He cries out their names instinctively, but he can’t tell if either hears him. They’re clearly in pain and probably as scared as he is. He wants to reach for their poké balls, or for Blastoise’s, but he’s frozen in place.

"Don't waste your time." Over the frantic pounding of his heart and the involuntary whimper rising in his throat, Gary barely hears the gym leader’s words. "This is the ultimate pokémon. It can never be defeated."

Gary isn’t the type to beg, but he can’t watch this anymore. “Stop, please.”

The gym leader laughs. What little sense was left of this being a normal gym battle vanishes.

Pushing through his paralyzing fear, Gary reaches for Arcanine and Nidoking’s poké balls and recalls them to safety. “Arcanine, Nidoking… I’m so sorry.”

He can’t subject another one of his pokémon to this fight. He looks up and is about to utter words he’s never said in his time as a trainer, _I forfeit,_ when glowing eyes meet his and pain like nothing he’s experienced before overpowers every thought. His ears are ringing and his nerves are on fire and if his vision is working at all, it’s nothing comprehensible—just flashes of people and places he doesn’t know, of fear and fire and death and _so much pain._

And then mercifully, everything goes dark.

* * *

At the end of the day, when all is said and done, Gary can only bury his face in Arcanine’s mane and keep apologizing into her fur. She nuzzles him reassuringly—she was hurt because of him, but she still trusts him and still loves him. Nidoking is the same.

For the first time, Gary considers himself unworthy.

He knows he’s a brilliant trainer, one of Pallet Town’s best, and as such he should’ve sized up the situation in the Viridian Gym and realized he was in way over his head. But no, he just had to prove himself against another gym leader. His pokémon suffered for it and so did he—the dull throbbing in his head and the full-body ache (which wasn't helped by Ash dropping him) were easy to ignore in the midst of the action, but now that it's over and all is quiet he definitely feels it all.

The girls might’ve been subjected to the same, he realizes, and he considers checking how they're holding up now, but he can’t bring himself to move away from Arcanine. Her warmth is comforting, makes him hurt a little less, and her bulk offers a sense of security.

He’s exhausted. He and Arcanine will probably sleep huddled together, and they’ll wake up in the morning still sore, but a little closer to okay. (A naïve part of him wants to hope this is all just a bad dream, but the rational part of him knows that isn't true—his brain couldn't make up an experience like this.) They’ll head for Pallet Town, and his grandfather will know how to handle all of this.

It hurts, but they’ll be fine.


End file.
